Friday, July 16, 2004 4:28 PM

Subject: D.S.I.P. Example

Another D.S.I.P. example

xxxx

Kxxx

xx

Axx

AK10x QJxx Auction 1♦ by Lisa P by Maurice & 1♠ by Stan

xx Qx DBL by Bob & 3♠ by Lisa bringing 4♥ by Maurice and 4♠ By Stan

KJxxxx A10x This got doubled by Maurice for –590 .

x xxxx

x

AJ10xx

Qx

KQJ10x

D.S.I.P. analysis . This hand shows the weakness of playing trump stack doubles. If Maurice had QJ109 of spades instead of xxxx , 4♠ X goes for a horrific #. If you play 2NT by me as an intermediate two suiter and 1NT as a weak takeout that could help in this auction. Standard bidding though is a double shows an opening hand with the two unbid suits and 1NT shows a weak takeout with the two unbid suits. If I make a 2^nd double in standard bidding I might have KQ10 of spades !!

Despite that , the 2^nd D.S.I.P. double clarifies the auction. It says I have the more distributional type of double ( pass shows the defensive type ) , probably a singleton in their suit and I want to bid 5♥. Partner has an easy pull to 5♥ as all his points are in my two suits and they must have diamonds & spades locked up. When I passed , Maurice had to make a single handed guess what my hand was. He assumed a 4-4 flatish 16 HCP hand for my double and he doubled based on that. The 2^ND D.S.I.P. double would have clarified my hand for him and leave options open in case he did have QJ10x of spades. 5♥ goes for –50 and beats all the partials people were in Thurs night.

If Maurice & I were vul and Cabays not vul , forcing passes apply. The fact that Maurice contracted for a vul game turns on the forcing pass switch. In this case , my pass invites Maurice to bid 5♥. All other vulnerabilities D.S.I.P. doubles apply as we do not “own the hand” just because we bid game.

Note: we have yet to have a hand where a D.S.I.P. double would have back fired in a competitive auction.